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| IRVING, Texas --- A crowd of friends, family, and Marines applaud and cheer as Marines from Detachment A, Marine Air Control Squadron 24, Marine Air Control Group 48, walk into the terminal at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Feb. 15. The Marines returned from a 7-month deployment to Iraq. |
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| GySgt. Steven Allemang, an air traffic controller with Det A, MACS-24, holds his 6-year-old daughter, Samantha, while reuniting with his family at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Feb. 15 after returning from Fallujah, Iraq. Allemang deployed as the team leader for the Marine Mobile Team from the detachment that deployed in support of MACS-2 in July. |
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| Alison McTague hugs her son, Lance Cpl. Richard McTague, at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport while McTague’s father, Richard, takes pictures. McTague and six other Marines from Det A, MACS-24, returned to Texas on Feb. 15 from a 7-month deployment to Iraq. According to McTague, his first Iraq deployment was “definitely an experience. But I’m glad to be home.” |
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| Joanne Sosnowski, 23, welcomes home her husband, Lance Cpl. Theodore Sosnowski, at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Sosnowski and six other Marines from Det A, MACS-24, returned to Texas on Feb. 15 from a 7-month deployment to Iraq. |
IRVING, Texas – (Feb. 22, 2008) -- As a blanket of fog slipped over North Texas, a crowd of friends, family, Marines, and United Service Organizations volunteers packed into a corner of the bustling Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport Feb. 15, anxiously awaiting the homecoming of a group of Fort Worth, Texas-based Marines.
The terminal erupted into applause as seven leathernecks from Detachment A, Marine Air Control Squadron 24, Marine Air Control Group 48, walked into the airport following a seven-month deployment to Iraq.
“It’s real obvious that something’s going on, so we’ll tell the passengers [awaiting flights] and invite them to help welcome them home,” said Jodi Sorenson, a USO volunteer. As family members embraced the returning Marines, the passengers and airline employees in the terminal clapped and cheered.
The returning Marines deployed to Iraq’s Anbar province in July in support of MACS-2 as a Fallujah-based Marine Mobile Team responsible for airfield operations, according to Gunnery Sgt. Daron Wilkinson, training chief with Det. A, MACS-24. The Feb. 15 homecoming marked the end of a second deployment for two of the Marines and the third deployment for the team’s leader.
The deployment was a first for the remaining four Marines on the team - and their families.
“Him leaving was really hard,” said Joanne Sosnowski, wife of Lance Cpl. Theodore Sosnowski, one of the team’s air traffic controllers. The deployment “wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be,” said Pam Campbell, the mother of Lance Cpl. Jacob Campbell, another controller for the team. The deployed Marines take care of each other, and, “you get a sense of that, and that takes the edge off,” she said.
In anticipation of his return, Sonowski’s wife and family were nervous, excited - “a little bit of everything,” they said.
As far as Sonowski’s homecoming plans, he gave his wife a heads up regarding his priorities before his flight. “Shower, steak, then sleep,” she said.
